What I did not know about Ginni Thomas

"Ginni graduated from Creighton University, in Omaha, and then attended law school there," Jane Mayer reported in a January New Yorker profile. "Her parents helped get her a job with a local Republican candidate for Congress, and when he won she followed him to Washington. But, after reportedly flunking the bar exam, she fell in with a cultish self-help group, Lifespring, whose members were encouraged to strip naked and mock one another’s body fat. She eventually broke away, and began working for the Chamber of Commerce, opposing 'comparable worth' pay for women."

  Raw Story

What?  She flunked the bar?  A "cultish" group?

Thomas, who was briefly a member of Lifespring — a controversial group that was part of the "human potential movement" — before becoming an anti-cult activist, has surprised many who once knew her by aligning herself with far-right conspiracy theory groups such as QAnon that some say have cult-like qualities.

Nonetheless, Steven Hassan, a former-cult-member-turned-cult-expert who worked with Thomas during her anti-cult activism days, told Insider he is not surprised by her involvement with the far-right conspiracy theory movement.

[...]

"[A]nyone who has ever been in a cult is vulnerable to another cult if they haven't properly counseled and done their homework," Hassan said.

[...]

Founded in 1974 by John Hanley Sr., Lifespring held training seminars to teach its members "self-confidence, self-esteem, lowered job stress, a heightened sense of control in life, and a more positive and pleasurable range of events and experiences in their lives," according to the now-dissolved group's website.

  Business Insider

Something like EST?

Thomas became involved in the 1980s. But shortly after, the group garnered controversy when reports emerged of unsavory practices and several trainees dying, according to a 1987 article in The Washington Post in which Thomas discussed how the group pushed her away from her loved ones.

She eventually left the group after being "deprogrammed" and became a passionate anti-cult activist in the 1980s and '90s.

And yet, she's now deep into QAnon conspiracy.

She blamed the "deep state" when her allies weren't hired onto Trump's administration and made several written attempts to overturn the 2020 election. In text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, she'd even claimed that Trump watermarked mail-in ballots to track voter fraud and that politicians were being arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay.

[...]

In March, a video circulated on Twitter showed Thomas speaking at a 1986 Cult Awareness Network event in Kansas City, Missouri, about her experience of leaving Lifespring.

"When you come away from a cult, you've got to find a balance in your life as far as getting involved with fighting the cult or exposing it," Thomas said. "And kind of the other angle is getting a sense of yourself and what was it that made you get into that group. And what open questions are there that still need to be answered."

Sounds like Ginni could use her own advice.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.